Why are some people not creative?
Creativity, noun, the use of imagination or original ideas to create something.
Being creative means taking risks and ignoring doubt and facing fears. It means breaking with routine and doing something for the sake of doing something.
So, the above statements are not what most NON CREATIVE people would describe creativity. It’s a common misconception that creativity means the ability to create something talented, refined and perfectly rendered.
I have students come to my workshops and instantly declare they are not creative. They will not be good at the lesson and they are here just to enjoy and try something new. Funny, if only they realised that the action of coming along, in itself, is creativity.
We are all born creative. As children, our natural instincts to play, explore and try new things. That IS being creative. We are not afraid of failing; in fact, can a child even fail? Taking part and trying is as important as the result and so filled with that confidence, we all exude our own creativity.
As we grow up, we loose this sense of creativity as adults around us express their opinions on what we are doing and achieving. Its natural to listen to the words of others; especially when they have seen the world around us longer, and have more experience. But the thing is, it is ONLY their OPINON. There are no facts to say what is good art, what is not. There are so many different preferences to how ‘good’ a voice is when sang. Aborigines don’t have the same ear that Americans have, that Indians have, or the world of pop. So why do we grow feeling ashamed of our voice if it doesn’t fit the mould. The same with anything, cooking, sculpturing or even pottery. The list is endless. Sure, there are basics that can be applied to get better results out of your quest, but applying them or not is not what defines creativity.
As many things in life, we grow supressed. We stop practising things that previously brought us joy, for fear of others opinions, for fear of looking silly. We in turn judge others on the same set of beliefs we have learnt. We all learn to pop ourselves into these limiting belief boxes and then suffer.
And what makes it crazy is that everyone’s ‘rules’ are completely different depending on your culture.
So when someone comes to my class, or I hear someone say ‘I’m just not creative’, I cringe. I want to go over, give them a big hug/shake and say, YOU ARE!!! Everyone is! It doesn’t matter what you produce, it really doesn’t. If you team certain colours together, you have thought of that combination yourself. If you apply a brush stroke here, and another one there, you are experimenting with how paint is applied to the paper and seeing what you come up with. As you gain more practise, you may start to fit into the box of what we, society consider good, but that is not the definition of creative. That is another box completely.
I’ve mostly written this blog to try and get across the true definition of creativity and to hopefully even stop one person who has that limiting belief that is doing nothing for them except holding them back from giving things a go.
We don’t all have to be good at everything. But trying is what makes our life rich, enjoyable and fun.
So next time you catch yourself saying a limiting phrase like I can’t sing, or I’m not creative, or I’m not good at…. STOP!!! Rephrase, I’m learning to sing, I’m learning to ride a bike or I’m enjoying the process of painting. And just let go! You got this!!!
And if you’re looking for the perfect creative outlet, check out my classes and online resources for learning watercolours.